SANCHI STUDYAREA: THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

Having discussed the geography and archaeology of the central
Indian region to which the SSP study area belongs, this chapter
will take a micro-regional approach to the latter’s physical environment, touching upon elements of local geology and pedology,
as well as the history of land use, agriculture and climate. These
details provide the necessary background for later accounts of the
project’s field methodology (chapter 8), itself partly shaped by
local terrain; they also inform the methods used to interpret the
ancient irrigation systems described in chapter 14.